Hypnotize (single)
"Hypnotize" is the lead single for System of a Down's latest album of the same title, which was released on November 22, 2005. The video was filmed on September 28, 2005, at the Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It reached number one on Billboard's Hot Modern Rock Tracks chart and is the band's biggest international hit. Music As in many Mezmerize/Hypnotize songs, guitarist Daron Malakian accompanies Serj Tankian in the vocal sections. Serj and Daron perform a harmony in the refrain before and after the instrumental bridge. The combination of the two vocalists gives the song a vocal range, with Serj handling the lower verses and Daron delivering the high parts of the refrains. Musically, "Hypnotize" is somewhat of an enigma. It is difficult to determine whether the key is F# minor or F# major. The opening guitar riff and early verses use an upbeat melody that follows the F# major scale, but with a flatted sixth (a D instead of a D#). This produces a direct switch from a major key to the minor key of the same name. Even stranger is the minor-key bridge, which loyally follows the chords expected from an F# minor song (F#m, D, Bm, E, A, and C#). Musical discontinuities like this can be found all over the song and creates heavily psychedelic tone. The Eastern-themed instrumental bridge contains at least four overdubbed clean guitar tracks and a well-crafted, syncopated rhythm. The song leads up to a massive crescendo, then ends with a repeated portion of the opening riff with soft singing by Malakian. Music video The music video is mostly footage from one of the band's September 2005 concerts, (filmed at Van Andel Arena in Grand Rapids, Michigan) but includes a CGI scene of painting along with the music; the audio is dubbed over with the studio track. The beginning and ending of the video show a helicopter spraying red matter across Grand Rapids (Forming at the end the album's artwork). This could possibly be the pesticide referred to in the song Attack of the same album. Unknown to many, there is brief nudity in the video. At 1:53 in the video a woman is seen flashing her boobs to a camera on the far right, the exposure could have been unoticed or simply missed by the editing and it is uncensored. Subject matter The song's lyrics in the verses reference the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 and propaganda. The chorus is unrelated with the rest of the song: in an interview with MTV, Daron stated that the song was written while he was actually sitting in his car waiting for his girlfriend. However, from the point of a listener, this may well mean again, the reference to the "simple minded". Another meaning that can come from the chorus is that while propaganda is rampant, life goes on. Track listing *All live tracks were recorded at the Hurricane Festival 2005 show, except where noted. Hypnotize (Promo single) Hypnotize (Single) ;CD1 ;CD2 Hypnotize (Maxi-single) Hypnotize (7" LE single) Hypnotize (iTunes single) External links *Lyrics on LyricsWiki *Marcus Northbridge's Analysis Category:System of a Down songs